Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1887-03-26
A PHoNIo LESSON.
written by Miss S. w. Hart, Connecticut
Normal SCHOOL,

4 written DIV NJ ISIS =. w OOHHeCbicut
Normal School,.
Daily drill in phonics has become
a part of the exercise in every we'll
regulated primary school. 1T is Gus
tomary to have as part of this drill
concert work by the children, in Civ
ing the elementary sounds of the
language The letters representing
these sounds are placed on a chart
or blackboard, and two or three min
utes day are given to the work Of
circulating the sounds.
The exercises in giving the sounds
are varied by allowing the children
TO sing them, give one with rising
infection, another with falling inhec-
ton, etc Another way, especially
successful with young children, / to
tell story in which the sounds APP
pear as being made by something
described in the story.
The following story will illustrate
this point:
One very hot day last summer,
little boy named Johnnie was lying
out in the hammock. He swung
back and forth for long time, and
finally he began to grow sleepy. He
shut his eyes and. listened to all tie
sounds that he could hear about him.
Over in the next yard was COW.
and Johnnie heard her say to her
little calf, ''m, m The calf tried 30
make the same noise, but it couldn't
quite do it; so it said, IN, n" Then
it tried again, and it could say only
ing, ng."
Up on the roof were some pigeons,
and they talked to themselves this
way. IL, /" There was cross little
wren there, too, and he said, "r, r."
Johnnie's Uncle Charlie was on the
piazza trying to tie up some vines
for Johnnie's mamma. He held some
bits of string in his mouth while lie
tied up the vines. Johnnie watched
him awhile, and wondered why, al
at once, he began to say, "p, p;' and
then louder yet, st, t." Hesoon saw,
though, that it was only because
some tiny bits ofthe string were try
ing to get down his throat, and he
was irving to get them out. Johnnie
could hear the cars up at the station
go, sch, CHI" then, slowly, &c, c."
The pigeons began to talk again by
this time ID, b." said one; sd, d.
said another third almost sneezed
and said, 81, j" and the old papa
pigeon said, ''g, g."
In the house, mamma was trying
10 get the baby to sleep. The old
cat and her little kittens came run
ming in. Mamma was afraid that
they might disturb baby, so she said,
IS, Ssh, sh.p The old cat didn't
like that, so she said, If, f." the lit
tie kittens tried to do just as their
mamma had done, but all they could
say was, 9Th, tn" Then mamma
sang little song to baby. Johnnie
was 50 nearly asleep by this time
that he couldn't tell what she sang.
He only heard a low sound like, ",
W. Hard sound of th). Suddenly
a big fly came buzzing close to John.
MES nose; ~, q" it said. Then it
dew a little higher, singing, "zh, zh."
That nearly walked Johnnie up, and
in a minute after Rover came run
ming under the hammock, painting,
''h, h." then softly, "wh, wh." Then
Johnnie thought that he had better
get up.
Mamma couldn't get baby to sleep,
go she let her run TO the door to call
Johnnie. Baby's talk isn't like OR
talk,and this is what she said Wv, W,
y, "a, a--e, e--i, 10, o-u, u,
That meant, "Come, brother John
ME, come and play with baby" So
Johnnie got out Of the hammock,
and he and baby had nice time to-
gether.
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